MakerBot and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory want to bring 3D printing
to the Red Planet! While Mars is not yet home to humans, 3D printing
using materials on Mars or resources brought from Earth would likely
help future Mars explorers survive. MakerBot and JPL teamed up to
challenge the 3D printing and design community to come up with designs
for a Thingiverse Mars Base that could theoretically support human life
on the Red Planet. 228 original designs were uploaded to Thingiverse.com,
MakerBot’s 3D design community for discovering, printing and sharing 3D
models. The enthusiasm behind these contributions was out of this world,
as detailed and scientific descriptions often accompanied the innovative
designs. All of the submitted designs were 3D printed on a MakerBot®
Replicator® 3D Printer and then reviewed by scientific and engineering
staff at JPL, who used their expert knowledge and experience to help
select the final three winners.

MakerBot and NASA/Jet Propulsion Lab held a Thingiverse Mars Base Challenge. Out of hundreds of entries submitted, the first place winner was Noah Hornberger's Queen B (Bioshielding) Mars Apartment. All of the winning and submitted Thingiverse Mars Base Challenge designs can be downloaded at http://www.thingiverse.com. (Photo: Business Wire)

Winning Mars Base Challenge Entries

First place prize goes to Thingiverse user Noah Hornberger’s Queen
B (Bioshielding) 2 Bedroom 2 Bath Mars Apartment. Noah’s
solution approaches the harsh Mars climate without sacrificing the
comforts of home, with a structure designed to protect its inhabitants
from frigid temperatures and cosmic radiation. Noah chose to use the
tessellating hexagon shape as a form factor, due to its compactness and
modular potential. His description of the design includes radiation
shielding, an underground heated water insulator, and an air
purification system. Noah states, “This is quite a multifaceted
challenge. I have tried to think through the theory of my design as much
as possible and prove it with a printed model. I designed something that
I would feel happy living in for a few years (at least).”

Second place is awarded to Thingiverse user Valcrow’s Martian
Pyramid. This pyramid design focuses on multi-functional systems
that ensure limited resources are reused as much as possible, with
energy produced from a mirror-based solar collector. Valcrow describes
his Martian Pyramid as taking inspiration from the pyramids on Earth,
some of the most iconic, longest standing structures. Valcrow notes the
pyramid’s stable triangular geometry has proven its durability through
the ages in ancient buildings around the world and demonstrated its
weather resistance in tent and teepee designs. This model is intended to
be an architectural cutout view, where the generator room and water
storage areas are clear to the viewer.

Third place is awarded to Thingiverse user Chris Starr (Cstarrman)
for his Mars
Acropolis, which incorporates ancient Greek architectural
elements with modern research facility features. This futuristic
structure draws energy from solar panels, includes three massive
greenhouses, and is designed to ensure that limited resources are not
wasted. Chris created his solution by taking cues from the ancient Greek
Acropolis of Athens. The Mars Acropolis is a three-tiered structure. Its
outer wall serves as a protective barrier. It’s foundation is built atop
a mixture of soil from Earth and Mars. The habitat serves as a mass
research facility to explore and develop means for additional
colonization of the planet.

“We really loved seeing how the designs in the Mars Base Challenge were
often inspired by structures here on Earth that have withstood the
passage of time and harsh weather elements,” noted Bre Pettis, CEO of
MakerBot. “It was challenging to select just three winners from the 228
entries. We were happy to have the experts from JPL on board to help
with the judging process, as they took this challenge very seriously.
Overall, this was a very inspiring challenge.”

JPL, in coordination with its Imagine Mars Project and IT Chief
Technology and Innovation Office, evaluated the designs based on
research done by participants about what it would take humans to survive
in the extreme environment on Mars, general feasibility, and design
thinking. MakerBot took those inputs into consideration, while testing
printability, replicability, and other 3D design aspects to select the
final winners.

The first place winner of the MakerBot and NASA/JPL Thingiverse Mars
Base Challenge will receive a MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printer.
Second and third place winners will be awarded spools of MakerBot PLA
Filament. All of the Mars Base Challenge designs can be viewed,
downloaded and 3D printed from Thingiverse.com,
the world’s largest 3D printing community with more than 300,000 digital
designs available.

About MakerBot

MakerBot, a subsidiary of Stratasys
Ltd. (Nasdaq:SSYS), is leading the Next Industrial Revolution by setting
the standards in reliable and affordable desktop 3D printing. Founded in
2009, MakerBot sells desktop 3D printers to innovative and
industry-leading customers worldwide, including engineers, architects,
designers, educators and consumers. To learn more about MakerBot, visit makerbot.com.

About NASA/JPL

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, Calif., manages NASA’s Mars Exploration Program
(MEP) on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. MEP’s Science
Goal 4 is preparation for human exploration. JPL is exploring 3D
printing for use in Mars and other space missions, as well as for
inspiring creativity, design thinking, and STEM literacy. Follow the
#JourneytoMars at mars.nasa.gov
or ImagineMars.jpl.nasa.gov.

Mobile, social, Big Data, and cloud have fundamentally changed the way we live. “Anytime, anywhere” access to data and information is no longer a luxury; it’s a requirement, in both our personal and professional lives. For IT organizations, this means pressure has never been greater to deliver meaningful services to the business and customers.

Digital Transformation is the ultimate goal of cloud computing and related initiatives. The phrase is certainly not a precise one, and as subject to hand-waving and distortion as any high-falutin' terminology in the world of information technology.
Yet it is an excellent choice of words to describe what enterprise IT—and by extension, organizations in general—should be working to achieve.
Digital Transformation means:
handling all the data types being found and created in the organizat...

SYS-CON Events announced today that HPM Networks will exhibit at the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
For 20 years, HPM Networks has been integrating technology solutions that solve complex business challenges. HPM Networks has designed solutions for both SMB and enterprise customers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Chuck Piluso presented a study of cloud adoption trends and the power and flexibility of IBM Power and Pureflex cloud solutions.
Prior to Secure Infrastructure and Services, Mr. Piluso founded North American Telecommunication Corporation, a facilities-based Competitive Local Exchange Carrier licensed by the Public Service Commission in 10 states, serving as the company's chairman and president from 1997 to 2000.
Between 1990 and 1997, Mr. Piluso served as chairman & founder of International Te...

The Software Defined Data Center (SDDC), which enables organizations to seamlessly run in a hybrid cloud model (public + private cloud), is here to stay. IDC estimates that the software-defined networking market will be valued at $3.7 billion by 2016.
Security is a key component and benefit of the SDDC, and offers an opportunity to build security 'from the ground up' and weave it into the environment from day one.
In his session at 16th Cloud Expo, Reuven Harrison, CTO and Co-Founder of Tufin,...

Container technology is sending shock waves through the world of cloud computing. Heralded as the 'next big thing,' containers provide software owners a consistent way to package their software and dependencies while infrastructure operators benefit from a standard way to deploy and run them. Containers present new challenges for tracking usage due to their dynamic nature. They can also be deployed to bare metal, virtual machines and various cloud platforms. How do software owners track the usag...

SYS-CON Events announced today that MobiDev, a software development company, will exhibit at the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
MobiDev is a software development company with representative offices in Atlanta (US), Sheffield (UK) and Würzburg (Germany); and development centers in Ukraine. Since 2009 it has grown from a small group of passionate engineers and business managers to a full-scale mobi...

With SaaS use rampant across organizations, how can IT departments track company data and maintain security? More and more departments are commissioning their own solutions and bypassing IT. A cloud environment is amorphous and powerful, allowing you to set up solutions for all of your user needs: document sharing and collaboration, mobile access, e-mail, even industry-specific applications.
In his session at 16th Cloud Expo, Shawn Mills, President and a founder of Green House Data, discussed h...

For IoT to grow as quickly as analyst firms’ project, a lot is going to fall on developers to quickly bring applications to market. But the lack of a standard development platform threatens to slow growth and make application development more time consuming and costly, much like we’ve seen in the mobile space.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Mike Weiner, Product Manager of the Omega DevCloud with KORE Telematics Inc., discussed the evolving requirements for developers as IoT matures and conducte...

There are many considerations when moving applications from on-premise to cloud. It is critical to understand the benefits and also challenges of this migration. A successful migration will result in lower Total Cost of Ownership, yet offer the same or higher level of robustness.
In his session at 15th Cloud Expo, Michael Meiner, an Engineering Director at Oracle, Corporation, analyzed a range of cloud offerings (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and discussed the benefits/challenges of migrating to each offe...

One of the hottest areas in cloud right now is DRaaS and related offerings.
In his session at 16th Cloud Expo, Dale Levesque, Disaster Recovery Product Manager with Windstream's Cloud and Data Center Marketing team, will discuss the benefits of the cloud model, which far outweigh the traditional approach, and how enterprises need to ensure that their needs are properly being met.

In their session at 17th Cloud Expo, Hal Schwartz, CEO of Secure Infrastructure & Services (SIAS), and Chuck Paolillo, CTO of Secure Infrastructure & Services (SIAS), provide a study of cloud adoption trends and the power and flexibility of IBM Power and Pureflex cloud solutions.
In his role as CEO of Secure Infrastructure & Services (SIAS), Hal Schwartz provides leadership and direction for the company.

In a recent research, analyst firm IDC found that the average cost of a critical application failure is $500,000 to $1 million per hour and the average total cost of unplanned application downtime is $1.25 billion to $2.5 billion per year for Fortune 1000 companies. In addition to the findings on the cost of the downtime, the research also highlighted best practices for development, testing, application support, infrastructure, and operations teams.

"We've just seen a huge influx of new partners coming into our ecosystem, and partners building unique offerings on top of our API set," explained Seth Bostock, Chief Executive Officer at IndependenceIT, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 16th Cloud Expo, held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City.

The Internet of Everything (IoE) brings together people, process, data and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before – transforming information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom. IoE creates new capabilities, richer experiences, and unprecedented opportunities to improve business and government operations, decision making and mission support capabilities.

As organizations realize the scope of the Internet of Things, gaining key insights from Big Data, through the use of advanced analytics, becomes crucial. However, IoT also creates the need for petabyte scale storage of data from millions of devices. A new type of Storage is required which seamlessly integrates robust data analytics with massive scale. These storage systems will act as “smart syste...

Digital Transformation is the ultimate goal of cloud computing and related initiatives. The phrase is certainly not a precise one, and as subject to hand-waving and distortion as any high-falutin' terminology in the world of information technology.
Yet it is an excellent choice of words to describe what enterprise IT—and by extension, organizations in general—should be working to achieve.
D...

DevOps is first and foremost a mindset – any DevOps initiative must begin with a cultural change. Last Tuesday, I participated in an online panel on the subject of Implementing a DevOps Culture, as part of Continuous Discussions (#c9d9), a series of community panels about Agile, Continuous Delivery and DevOps. Watch a recording of the panel:
Continuous Discussions is a community initiative by Ele...

“Dad, if my character dies in the game, would I die in the real world?”
What a beautifully naive question that my son, Trevor, asked me during a son-dad conversation about how games might change over the years.
Earlier last year, Mattel’s CEO, Bryan Stockton, was fired. After three years, it was clear that Mattel was continuing to be challenged with sales weakness, and lower gross margins, which...

You often hear the two titles of "DevOps" and "Immutable Infrastructure" used independently.
In his session at DevOps Summit, John Willis, Technical Evangelist for Docker, covered the union between the two topics and why this is important. He provided an overview of Immutable Infrastructure then showed how an Immutable Continuous Delivery pipeline can be applied as a best practice for "DevOps." ...

The majority of an organization’s revenues are dependent on suppliers, distributors and other third parties. But as Benjamin M. Lawsky, New York State’s Superintendent of Financial Services, points out: “Unfortunately, those third-party firms can provide a back-door entrance to hackers who are seeking to steal sensitive bank customer data.”
By now most everyone is well aware of the major data bre...

The concept behind the Internet of Things has been around for a while now, ATMs being some of the first enterprise, hardened, network-connected, managed devices for mainstream consumer use. So too with our mobile phones, these are not new concepts to network technicians or hardware geeks. But for the rest of us, we simply never imagined the extents that the "ubiquity of connectedness" would take a...

Tableau Software and big data analytics platforms come together to provide visualization benefits for those seeking more than just crunched numbers.
The next BriefingsDirect big data innovation discussion highlights how Tableau Software and big data analytics platforms come together to provide visualization benefits for those seeking more than just crunched numbers. They're looking for ways to im...

Conservation International (CI) in Arlington, Virginia uses new technology to pursue more data about what's going on in tropical forests and other ecosystems around the world.
As a non-profit, they have a goal of a sustainable planet, but we're going to learn how they've learned to measure what was once unmeasurable -- and then to share that data to promote change and improvement.

Business and IT leaders today need better application delivery capabilities to support critical new innovation. But how often do you hear objections to improving application delivery like, "I can harden it against attack, but not on this timeline"; "I can make it better, but it will cost more"; "I can deliver faster, but not with these specs"; or "I can stay strong on cost control, but quality wil...

The Federal Government’s “Cloud First” policy mandates that agencies take full advantage of cloud computing benefits to maximize capacity utilization, improve IT flexibility and responsiveness, and minimize cost. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) is a mandatory government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and con...

Do the ‘darker’ channels and means that exist for searching the web in anonymity ultimately spell doom for the wider march towards open data?
So-called ‘open data’ is supposed to be an instrument for breaking down information gaps across industries and letting companies share benchmarks and best practices that raise productivity – all information should be open and that should (theoretically) inc...

Learn how the IoT Cloud will power the world of tomorrow and why managing IoT through the cloud is as important as cloud computing itself. Learn how the devices of tomorrow will work on business models that reflect a new business strategy and a way to consume services.
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Ian Khan, Manager, Innovation & Marketing at Solgenia, will discuss how powered by the cloud and...

JavaScript is primarily a client-based dynamic scripting language most commonly used within web browsers as client-side scripts to interact with the user, browser, and communicate asynchronously to servers.
If you have been part of any web-based development, odds are you have worked with JavaScript in one form or another. In this article, I'll focus on the aspects of JavaScript that are releva...

Technology changes at the speed of light. To say it can be hard to keep up is an understatement. For performance engineers, taking charge of your own continuing education is one of the most important things you can do to remain at the top of your game.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become the next “be all to end all” in information technology. Touted as how cloud computing will connect everyday things together, it is also feared as the real- life instantiation of The Terminator’s Skynet, where sentient robot team with an omnipresent and all-knowing entity that uses technology to control, and ultimately destroy, all of humanity.

Most developers learn best by examples, which naturally tend to simplify matters and omit things that aren’t essential for understanding. This means that the “Hello World” example, when used as starting point for an application, may be not suitable for production scenarios at all.
I started using Node.js like that and I have to confess that it took me almost two years to quantify the huge perform...

As a recent graduate, and now professor in the University of Connecticut's Business Analytics and Project Management masters program, I have a lot of conversations surrounding the topic of "Big Data" and questions such as, "What does that term actually mean?"
Big Data is a fairly new topic and what seems to be an elusive term for many. Conversations are important to help bring clarity to Big Data...

Knowledge management, in business terms, refers to saving, developing, sharing, and effectively using knowledge for the benefit of organization. It refers to a multi-disciplined approach of achieving organizational objectives by making the best use of knowledge.
Scientia potentia est (Latin proverb meaning "knowledge is power") attributed to 16th century philosopher Sir Francis Bacon is nowadays ...

Cloud computing budgets worldwide are reaching into the hundreds of billions of dollars, and no organization can survive long without some sort of cloud migration strategy. Each month brings new announcements, use cases, and success stories.